Commissioner Chong asked to make a statement prior to the presentation. In summary, he said that even though this matter is important for new and returning Board Members, he cautioned that there are other important issues that need to be addressed by the Board. He said that the Board has already achieved many of their goals concerning this issue and that the Condominium Conversion Ordinance needs to be a balanced element in the agency’s policy and program development and hopes that moving forward it will be set as a lower priority.

a. Presentation by Dr. Stephen Barton, Senior Planner, Rent Stabilization Board. Dr. Barton gave the history of the Condominium Conversion Ordinance and an update on the proposed revisions.

b. Comments and questions by Boardmembers. Boardmembers discussed the issue and had their questions answered by Dr. Barton and the Executive Director, Jay Kelekian.

7. Action Items From Board Members, Executive Director and Committees

a.Proposed revisions to the Condominium Conversion Ordinance. (Executive Director) M/S/C (Townley/Blake) TO SCHEDULE A SPECIAL RENT BOARD MEETING FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 26, TO DISCUSS AND WRITE A LETTER TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT CONTAINS TWO ELEMENTS: (1) A LIST OF PROBLEMS WITH THE CITY MANAGER’S REPORT, AND (2) A REQUEST FOR A DELAY SO THAT STAKEHOLDERS AND OTHERS HAVE TIME TO FULLY DIGEST THE INFORMATION. [Commissioner Tregub asked to add that the Condominium Conversion Ordinance Committee meet prior to the special Board meeting. It was agreed the committee should meet, but that it was not necessary to include it in the motion.] Friendly Amendment made by Chong and accepted by the makers. TO AUTHORIZE THE CONDOMINIUM CONVERSION ORDINANCE COMMITTEE TO ACT ON BEHALF OF THE FULL RENT BOARD, IF NECESSARY. Voice vote. Passed: 9-0-0-0.

b. Restoring second monthly Rent Board meeting for Committee meetings, workshops and informational presentations. (Chong, Townley) Item was discussed in length. Chair Stephens tabled until Commissioners Chong and Townley decide to bring back to the full Board. Chong and Townley agreed and expressed their desire for committees to become more active and meet more frequently, which they said could ultimately meet the needs of their issue.

c. Proposal to approve staff recommendation on the following requests for waiver of late registration penalties. (Executive Director)

Please Note: The Board may move Information Items to the Action Calendar.

a. Reports from Board Members/Staff.

(1) Rent Board Committee List for 2009. Chair Stephens said that she tried to accommodate the Commissioners wishes as best she could. She said the IRA/AGA Habitability was such a popular choice; she separated out some of the issues that the committee had been dealing with over the last two years and created the Safe and Sustainable Housing Committee, which met today.

She also proposed that one commissioner from each committee take responsibility to facilitate establishing the first meeting. She asked that a work plan be placed on their agendas, which should involve the staff person that the Executive Director decides to assign to each committee.

(2) Update on Public School Outreach Project. The Executive Director said that last month he gave a verbal report on the ads and was asked to bring in a sample. Both Spanish and English copies of the ads were attached to their agendas. He also brought for viewing a sample copy of one of the completed school directories with the ads printed in color on the inside front and back covers.

(3) City of Berkeley Budget Reduction Strategies. The Executive Director placed this item on the agenda at the request of the Board during the December meeting.

(6) Safe & Sustainable Housing – The committee had its first meeting today, where Jesse Townley was elected Chair. Chair Townley reported that they choose two tiers of priority; (1) Soft Story Ordinance, smoking in rental units and water conservation and (2) recycling in apartment buildings, disaster preparation and disaster planning for tenants, energy conservation, which includes solar panels on large apartment buildings and expanding City Car Share.

Chair Stephens suggested that since the waiver policy had come up a couple of times, those commissioners interested should get together with the Executive Director to form an Ad Hoc Committee to review the waiver policy. Commissioners Drake and Tregub volunteered to facilitate the forming of this an ad hoc committee.